National Florida Day Date in the current year: January 25, 2025

Florida is a state in the Southeastern United States, bordered by Alabama, Georgia, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, the Straits of Florida, and Cuba. About two-thirds of Florida’s territory occupies a peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The state’s official nickname is the “Sunshine State” although sever weather is not uncommon in Florida.

When Europeans arrived in the region, Florida was inhabited by several groups of indigenous peoples: the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Mayaimi, the Tequesta, and the Calusa. The first Europeans to set foot in Florida were the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León and his men on April 2, 1513. Florida thus was the first region of what is now the contiguous United States to be visited by Europeans. León named the peninsula Florida because of its flowery landscape and in honor of Pascua Florida, a Spanish Easter celebration.

Over the next few decades, the Spanish established a number of settlements in Florida. They offered refuge to slaves from the Thirteen Colonies in exchange for conversion to Catholicism. However, the territory of Spanish Florida began to shrink in the 17th century due to the expansion of English and French colonies to the northern border of Florida.

In 1763, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years’ War. In exchange, Spain regained control of Havana, which the British had captured during the war, and received Louisiana from France. The British divided the province into East Florida and West Florida.

Twenty years later, Great Britain lost the American Revolutionary War, and Spain regained both East and West Florida. However, the border between Florida and the United States was poorly defended, so Americans, including escaped slaves, began to migrate and settle in Florida.

In 1810, U.S. President James Madison annexed parts of West Florida, claiming them as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Two years later, the United States also annexed the Mobile District of West Florida (now part of Alabama). After the First Seminole War (1816-1817), the United States effectively controlled East Florida, although it was nominally a Spanish colony.

In 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the United States because it had become a burden. A year later, the Territory of Florida was created from East Florida and parts of West Florida. On March 3, 1845, Florida was admitted to the Union as a slave state.

National Florida Day is part of the National State Days project initiated by National Day Calendar in 2017 to celebrate each state’s unique history, culture, spirit, and heritage. Rather than commemorating the actual anniversaries of states’ admission to the Union, National Day Calendar celebrates one state each week in the order of their admission.